Places to eat out in Britain

Eating out in Britain is no problem at all. There are many places to eat. Their names are so different – a restaurant or cafe, cafeteria or coffee shop, pancake house or steakhouse, pizza place or sandwich shop, eatery or simply grill.

Some of them have proper names like «The Pines». Others are named after their owners like «Marie’s» or former owners if the place has earned a good reputation. You can also eat at a take away place. When you buy something they ask «Here or to go?»The competition is so strong that you can always find a good meal you can afford. From time to time nearly all restaurants make «Special offers» of cheaper meals. On Sunday one can find in the local paper and take advantage of a «Sunday brunch special».

All restaurants in Britain serve table d’hô te and a la carte dinners. Table d’hô te dinners are cheaper than a la carte ones. When you dine a la carte you order course by course, as you desire. But table d’hô te dinner consists of several dishes, the choice is limited, and it is served at a fixed price.

In the middle of the day when employees or workers have a short break for lunch, they find it impossible to get home for this meal and so they take it in a self-service cafe, or a fast food restaurant as they just want to eat up quickly and are not much interested in its quality. There are a lot of such places to suit every taste and purse.

There are quite a large number of vegetarians in Britain and an even larger number who are concerned about their health. For them “Health food shops” are abundant in the country as well as delicatessens, or deli for short.

We can’t but mention the so-called fish-and-chips shops, which serve this traditional English dish (fish is deep fried in oil and served with chips). Housewives find it convenient to buy it in the evening and take the meal home thus avoiding the process of cooking.

And, of course, the British pub (short for a «public house». It is unique. This is not because it is different in character from bars and cafes in other countries. It is because it is different from any other public place in Britain itself. Without pubs, Britain would be a less sociable country. A pub with forty customers in it is nearly much noisier than a cafe or restaurant with the same number of people in it. Pubs used to sell almost nothing but beer and spirits. These days you can get wine, coffee and some hot food as well. At one time it was unusual for women to go to pubs. These days parents can even take children with them if there is a garden at the back and the pub has a special children’s certificate. One of their notable aspects is that there is no waiter service. In pubs you have to go and fetch your drinks yourselves, you can get up and walk around - it is like being in your own house. Unlike other eating or drinking place, the staff are expected to know the regular customers personally and chat with them if they are not serving someone. It is also helped by the availability of pub games and, frequently, a television. It is notable that very few pubs have tables outside because the Victorians thought it was somehow not proper for people to be seen drinking.

Ex. 8 Make up questions with the following expressions, ask your classmates to answer them.

specific character, availability, to be named after, to suit every taste and purse, the choice is limited, a regular customer, fish and chips, children’s certificate

Ex. 9 Translate from Russian into English

1) В нашем городе есть места общественного питания, среди них кафе, рестораны, бары, пицерии, блинные, закусочные, но их число ограничено.

2) Некоторые владельцы кафе и ресторанов называют заведения в честь своих жен.

3) Ресторан заработал хорошую репутацию благодаря своей кухне.

4) Мне нравится, когда кафе имеет столики на свежем воздухе, но я бы предпочел, чтобы они были на заднем дворике, т. к. в нашем обществе считается неприличным когда тебя видят на улице выпивающим.

5) К сожалению у нас нет кафе, в которых продают еду на вынос.

6) Мы не всегда можем позволить себе пойти покушать в ресторан, но наличие комплексных обедов дает возможность покушать дешевле.

7) Если вы заботитесь о своем здоровье, не ешьте пищу, жаренную в большом количестве масла.

8) Используйте уникальную возможность покушать со скидкой.

9) Предполагается, что штат пабов знает своих завсегдатаев лично.

10) Нельзя не упомянуть о сильной конкуренции среди английских учреждений общественного питания.

Ex. 11 Compare eating and drinking placesin Britain and Belarus

Ex. 12. Read this text carefully. Pick out the new words and try to guess the meaning of some of them. Look the words up in the dictionary and check your guesses. Learn the meaning and the pronunciation of the new words.

The Old Mill, The Quay, Wardleton, Sussex

Open: Tuesday-Sunday

7-11.30p.m.

This week we decided to look at a small family-run restaurant in the village of Wardeton. “The Old Mill” is newly opened and overlooks the River Wardle, and we had heard several favourable comments about it. This three-month-old restaurant has attracted attention because it is a restored, one hundred fifty-year –old mill. The decor is charming and warm in Early American, country style. Although the tables and chairs are modern reproductions, there are enough authentic antique pieces at the entrance and on the walls to avoid the fake Disneyland look of some restorations.

Because we had been advised to book early, we managed to get a nice table with a view of the quay. We were made very welcome and the service was excellent because it is a small family business. The Proprietor, Jeff Dean, runs the kitchen himself and his wife, Nelly, showed us to our table.

Although the choice of items on the menu was rather extensive, it was rather traditional. A long menu always worries me, because a large menu often means a large freezer! We started with Wardle Trout and although it was fresh, it was spoilt by the number of herbs. For my main course I chose the pepper steak, which was the speciality of the day. I thought it was almost perfect because the chef had chosen excellent meat and it was cooked just long enough.

My wife ordered the roast lamb, and although the quality of the meat was good, she thought it was a little underdone. Though the vegetables were fresh, they came in very small portions and were rather over-cooked for our tastes. The only exception was the string beans which were green and crisp (a mistake?). However the bread was fresh because it had been baked on the premises. I have often complained in this column about the difficulty of finding any restaurant which serves a fresh fruit salad. Luckily, this one did. Even though it must have been very time-consuming to prepare, it was a delight to see, and I had a second helping.

As usual I chose house wine, as this is often the best way to judge a restaurant’s wine list. It was a French-bottled table wine which was quite satisfactory and reasonably priced. The bill, including coffee and brandy, came to 37 pounds, which was acceptable for the class of restaurant, although that did not include service.